With 68 million verified users, Coinbase is the number one cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S, and it now has its sights set on becoming the largest NFT marketplace as well. A post on Coinbase’s blog has announced their plans to launch an NFT marketplace, where you can mint, buy and sell non-fungible tokens, later this year. You can now officially add your name to the Coinbase NFT waitlist.
NFT’s have changed the way traditional art is curated and purchased, however, the user experience seems to be lacking when users attempt to purchase or create their own NFT’s. Currently, people need to use several different platforms and applications to exchange their funds into cryptocurrency and then purchase their desired NFT. This is where Coinbase comes in.
Coinbase promises their new NFT platform will be a peer-to-peer marketplace that will make the process of purchasing, minting, and discovering NFTs, much simpler. They plan to create user-friendly interfaces with the goal to sprout the creativity of the users. The objective is to allow users to create NFT’s with just the click of a few buttons. Initially, Coinbase’s NFT marketplace will support Ethereum ERC-721 tokens and intends to eventually support ERC-1155 standards with multi-chain support, in the near future.
Coinbase manages 8.8 million active users each month making them a trusted player in the cryptocurrency space. They are hoping to take that reliable reputation into the growing world of NFT acquisition.
Non-Fungible Tokens Continues To Increase In Popularity
Non-fungible tokens are not only digital assets, but they are certificates of authenticity as well. Because they are programmed on a blockchain, it makes them practically immune to counterfeit, which only increases their value.
While the last few years have seen record-breaking numbers for NFT’s, they have actually been around since 2012. However, it was in 2017 when they first saw massive success, due to digital trading card collections.
In 2018, NFT sales reached $40 million, while making a massive jump in 2020 to sales of over $338 million. This year has seen individual token sales at over $50 million each.
Coinbase Sees More Potential For NFTs
Not only is Coinbase suited to handle the NFT world, but they also see its greater potential. They claim that NFT’s have more to offer than simply music, videos, and collectibles. Coinbase believes that non-fungible tokens could be used for health records, to settle contract disputes, implement immigration policies, and even be used to vote. These are just a few examples of what the future could hold.
Coinbase already has two million people on its waiting list, and this number is expected to rise.
